Articles tagged with: ANTI-CANCER

It was always said that alcohol, taken with moderation, was not so dangerous as we used to believe, indeed moderate red wine consumption has many benefits. Some of these benefits exerted by red wine were mainly due to one of the active constituents found in red grapes, namely Resveratrol.

A recent study on the subject confirms that Resveratrol, a non-flavonoid polyphenol [5] from red grapes is able to stop breast cancercells growth.

Azadirachta indica (Neem), an herb extensively used in Ayurveda, Unani and Homoeopathic systems of medicine [7] to treat many health related problems and ailments, and also known to exert anti-cancer, antioxidant, wound-healing, andanti-microbialproperties [5,6,7] is also known to be one of these plants from which almost every part is used, from the Neem oil extracted from its seeds to the leaves and branches, to say the least neem benefits extend to various lines of health. Image: Azadirachta indica (Neem) by Wendy Cutler under Creative Common license (CC BY 2.0).

Some years ago it would have been very difficult to purchase some of the tropical fruits and vegetables that populate our markets nowadays such as papaya, rambutan, longan or dragon fruit to name some of them, while lychees, durian, rambuttan, guavas and passion fruit, are traded mostly at the regional level and in smaller volumes than the major tropical fruits, being Mango the dominant tropical fruit variety produced worldwide, followed by pineapples, papaya and avocado [4].

The main reason for this previous limits on tropical fruits imports could be the quarantine restrictions and phytosanitary measures set in place at that time to avoid the expansion of agricultural pests as well as the cost of importing some of these fruits from their country of origin, however, with a considerable increase on the demand on these type of fruits some of them, as unusual as Dragon fruit, have raised some questions regarding their nutritional values and health benefits, in spite it is already known that their use dates back to hundreds of years ago, when Mayas used the leaves and flowers of Hylocereus undatus as a hypoglycemic, diuretic and cicatrizing agent [18]. Image: See credits under reference [12].

Pineapple (Ananas comosus), named among the healthiest foods in the world, is known to exert many health benefits and has a lot of beneficial properties. Pineapple is rich in vitamin C, manganese, fiber, vitamin B6, B1 copper and folate, but to this properties we will have to add a new one, being the source of an active constituent, namely Bromelain, that has been found to exert anti-cancer properties, being stronger than certain chemo-agents against some types of tumors.

Although existing in all parts of the fresh pineapple plant and fruit, bromelain, a pineapple stem extract with a variety of therapeutic benefits arising from interaction with a number of different biological processes [4], is concentrated in higher quantities in the core of pineapple, in the stems. Image: See credits under reference [10] below.

Wogoninis a naturally occurring Flavone, but not the only one, Apigenin, Luteolin, Tangeritin, chrysin, baicalein and scutellarein are also natural Flavones [1].

Flavones are not as widespread as Flavonols, they can be found in some herbs and plants but their amounts and occurrence is far from being close to that of Flavonols. We can find Flavones in the leaves of Carya cathayensis and also in Scutellaria baicalensis, where Wogonin is also present.

Flavones have also been subject of many studies and clinical trials for their capability to exert certain anti-tumor properties, something which in the case of Wogonin deserves special attention. But do you want to know what makes Wogonin so special? Image:Hickory by Homer Eduard Price under Creative Commons license (CC BY 2.0).

Follow us!

THE CONTENT OF THIS WEBSITE IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE, DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT. IT IS NOT DESIGNED TO PROMOTE OR ENDORSE ANY MEDICAL PRACTICE, PRODUCTS OR PROCEDURE. YOU SHALL NOT USE ANY CONTENT FOR DIAGNOSING OR TREATING A MEDICAL OR HEALTH CONDITION.

NOTE! This site uses cookies to improve your user experience.

By continuing to use the site you are agreeing to its use. You can find out more info under cookies policy link at the bottom of this page.